County Council/geothermal

[Rob Tucker]

I noticed that Russel Ruderman weighed in as did Bob Herkes. What surprised me was that James Weatherford, who usually expounds on most anything to anyone, did not testify at all on this apparently. Fence sitting I guess. If the Trib failed to mention his testimony I apologize in advance.

[csgray]

Stating that a council person has a track record of missing votes important to his constituents to avoid taking unpopular stands is hardly slander, it is a statement of fact.

Much of what Fred has taken credit for was put into motion by our last council person, including the office in Pahoa which she opened; Puna, Kau and South Kona all got the electronic link to council chambers, that was a county wide initiative, not Fred (who didn't even bother to use it to vote on the rezoning for a property on main street Pahoa). Paving the road in his subdivision with geothermal funds while ignoring the needs of most of Puna is not leadership, it is pandering to the people he thinks will vote for him, putting the needs of the few ahead of the many. Fred made no effort to help his constituents in HPP while the negotiations for the park were happening, instead he went public about wanting the money for HIS neighborhood project very early in the process, which helped torpedo the project. This is not a leader, that is an opportunist.

Fred would make a great "Mayor of Pahoa" but that isn't how our political system is set up. He doesn't have the kind of deep or broad perspective that is needed for a county councilor, and he has not served his constituents who live outside of a small geographic area (his neighborhood) well at all. We need better representation and either of the other candidates could give us that. Last time people were so desperate for change that we bought an unknown entity based on his volunteerism, but governing a county the size of Hawaii Island is not the same as telling a handful of volunteers where to weed eat.

Carol

[JerryCarr]

I agree with most of what Carol just wrote, but would clarify one point. I was involved in the meetings and discussion when the proposed HPP park was on the table. Fred did not help with the negotiations, but he also did not push for redirecting the funds to Pahoa until after HPP had rejected it. This was yet another case where HPP was its own worst enemy.

As for the Council race, I think Greggor Ilagan is worth considering. Having spoken to him early in the race, in the middle, and lately, I have seen him grow into his candidacy. When asked a question, he gets straight to the point instead of inundating the questioner with carefully parsed political rhetoric. Very refreshing, that.

[csgray]

Jerry,
I saw a news clip of Fred at a ribbon cutting before the board vote saying he would be happy to find other places for the money, I feel like that public statement just torpedoed the deal. The County made no effort to actually negotiate with the board after that, and they could lay all the blame on the HPP board. True leadership would have been to meet with the two sides and try to find a place of agreement, or keep his mouth shut about it at a bare minimum, instead he publicly put his two cents in and then sat on the sidelines and watched the deal go south. He was happy HPP didn't get a park because he could shower his base with yet more benefits that the rest of Puna doesn't get. If you don't live in Hawaiian Beaches/Shores or Pahoa you just don't exist for Fred.

Same behavior with the dust issue, Fred could have shown leadership and tried to help resolve the problem, but instead he attended one meeting and then was publicly quoted as saying HPP just needed to "have a plan" and shouldn't expect any help from the government, in spite of the thousands of dollars HPP residents pay in gas taxes each year, tax dollars that don't help with the upkeep for our roads, unlike the roads in his subdivision which are maintained by my tax dollars.

I would love to see a runoff between Weatherford and Illegan, then we would have candidates who are willing to actually show up at voter forums and talk about the issues, instead of hiding from his constituents like Fred does. Fred does not serve the people of Puna, much less Hawaii county as a whole, he only serves the people in his subdivision at most.

Carol

[PauHana]

I believe Emily opened the Pahoa Council Office.
FYI Fred said he would close the Puna Council Office in the 2010 election.
"I will not need a council office in Pahoa. I will drive to Hilo."
And here is another quote from a 19 Oct 2010 Big Island Cronical Guest Column: Rob Tucker’s Notes on Fred Blas’ Talk Story
*" A park in HPP is a priority. HPP has nothing and needs attention."

Draw your own conclusions.

[opihikao]

This issue is much more than Fred Blas. The Mayor needs to come forth as promised, and tell our community what the heck the plan is for the future of geothermal development, and how the State & Federal government is going to protect our people if the health issues are valid (since MILLIONS of our federal money goes to the likes of ORMAT/PGV, etc.)!

Where is the factual information that is not 20 years old, and where is updated documentation from ORMAT/PGV promised at their last presentation at the council?

Now, Yagong has sent a letter to the Windward Planning Commission to fund the health study, utilizing a doctor that one group suggests! WTH is going on here? Good Lord!

Can NOT wait for elections to be over. This leaves me apoplectic. UGH!

[csgray]

Pahoated,
I challenge you to find any post here on Punaweb where someone makes fun of Fred's appearance, if people are doing somewhere else that has nothing to do with this discussion.

When running for re-election a candidate's performance in office is fair game. He is asking us to rehire him and the campaign is the job interview, Fred avoids situations like voter forums where we could ask him questions, so we have to go by how he has handled his first term. No one whined that we want him to "take care of the dust" in HPP, but in Hawaii politics the intermediary between state agencies and the residents is usually their county councilor or the mayor, who should show leadership by helping citizens resolve the issue. Fred doesn't do that, he just brings home the goodies for one small part of Puna, which just happens to be where he lives, while ignoring the rest of his constituents. That is called pandering to your base, not leadership.

Carol

[cwaters]

I have lived in Puna for over 20 years, and I have seen many public officials come and go. Both Fred and Billy, have done more for Puna than any of the former. Yes, Fred does not like to talk unless he has something to say that would add to the information. He feels it is more important to listen to all of the opinions, weight the provable facts, and make a decision that best benefits all of us . He has personally contacted me in response to some serious concerns.
He is a quiet man of action. I think for some it is hard to realize that talking for hours and hours on re-hashed non proveable information is non productive. No one in office can do it all, but I believe that Fred has done more for us than many others.

[csgray]

Claiming to be a "quiet man of action" is a great cover up for being an incumbent who doesn't listen to the people. If you think the only good activities for kids are sports played by boys (football), that the most important infrastructure need is repaving a road that was already in better shape than most of the county roads in Puna, and that throwing a 10,000 person subdivision with no county park under the bus so you can get a sports complex built on the edge of a Pahoa, then Fred is the man for you.

If you want a county councilor who actually will communicate with citizens, listen to the concerns of all, not just the people he already knows, who will not sit lunching with political big wigs in Luquin's when there is an important vote happening, who can see beyond bus stops and weed eating to the real fundamental needs of the fastest growing district in the state, then vote for either of the other candidates. We couldn't possibly do worse.

I was neutral on Fred when he went into office, I figured anyone would be better than the incumbent, but his narrow focus on trivialities while ignoring the big picture, compounded by his unwillingness to communicate with anyone outside his tight little circle, has been disappointing at the least. Hawaii county has big issues to deal with, Puna has very real needs Fred could help solve, things like infrastructure to support small businesses so everyone who isn't retired has a chance for a job that doesn't involve driving to Hilo every day and access to emergency health care. Our kids need activities, and not just football, our working age people need jobs close to home, our seniors need access to emergency health services, and our infrastructure across the whole district needs investment. We need a county councilor who will make it to meetings for important votes, who will listen to the concerns of his constituents, and who isn't beholden for all his campaign donations to Honolulu donors. It really says something when someone can't get anyone in their district to pony up even a $100 to help get them re-elected. Both of Fred's opponents got hundreds of people to give $5 and their signature to support their candidacy. Fred got only two campaign donations, from a union and an energy company based in Honolulu, and none from the community this time around. I wonder why?

I first started to distrust Fred when he ran the first time and he didn't come to a Pahoa voter forum to explain who he was to the voters because he was too busy raising money in Hilo. I decided he didn't have much in the way of people skills when he was very rude to me and others in a public meet-and-greet setting early in his term, and recently seeing him rubbing elbows in Luquins with Hanohano and a crowd of other politicos when he should have been voting on a rezoning for Pahoa mainstreet made me realize the citizens of Puna are not his priority. The first time around Puna gambled on a relative unknown, this time around we know exactly what we will get from Fred: a man of no vision, no people skills, who cares only about a tiny demographic out of his community, and who has a very limited understanding of the role of the government in improving the life of the community. I don't care if Fred talks, but it does matter if he listens.

We don't need a volunteer coordinator, we need a county councilor who will advocate for the constituents with the powers that be in state and county government. A Hawaii County councilor has a lot of doors open to them that regular citizens don't, and that access can be used to help resolve issues for the residents of this district, that is what leadership is. Getting some guy in a red T-shirt to spend all morning weed eating the same 20 foot stretch of highway at Shower drive while you sign wave is not leadership, it is a gimmick. It wasn't even the spot where the people waiting for the bus are standing knee deep in weeds every morning, but having that stretch weed eated wouldn't have had the same visual effect. So it was all about image, not what the real need was. That sums up Fred's whole term as councilor, it is all about appearances, not the real priorities of the citizens of Puna.



Carol